Beginner's Luck
by Red Ranger Kei
Summary: Okada sets about trying to teach Mikoshiba how to play mahjong, while Aniya helpfully sits in the corner and complains. ch2: Seat-shuffling finds room for Hamanaka and Akaboshi at the table, but disaster awaits when Aniya's the only available fourth. Gen.
1. Beginner's Luck

**Authorly preamble or something:** The characters of ROOKIES play mahjong intermittently throughout the first couple of volumes, and I wouldn't be me if I didn't make use of that. All cracks about Hiratsuka's play style are at my own expense, since it's based on how I play (including the closed-wait-furi-ten streak, ugh). I tried to make sure mahjong terms were either easy to understand or not necessary to understanding the action, but I don't have a lot of experience in that area so I am very open to suggestions. :)

* * *

**Beginner's Luck**

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Mikoshiba asks, tone hesitantly doubtful as he takes his place at the table. "We have a practice game tomorrow, don't forget."

"Don't worry!" Hiratsuka shoots back, punching him lightly on the shoulder. "No use in practicing too hard, right? We'll just tire ourselves out."

"Mahjong's good for your brain," Okada adds when Mikoshiba continues to look unconvinced. "Think of it as strategy practice. You have to see the potential in any situation." He smiles when Mikoshiba looks a little less uncertain.

"That is so much bullshit," Imaoka laughs dryly. "You just want someone new to rob blind."

"Now _that_ is bullshit," Okada shoots back. "Okada Mahjong 101 — no betting money on teaching games. Nobody's forcing you to play, you know."

"You need a fourth and everybody else went home, so it's either me or Aniya," Imaoka points out, his chair scraping into place as he casts a dark glance toward the corner of the clubhouse.

"Don't even," Aniya shoots back from the couch, his back to them and his nose in a magazine. "I've got better things to do than shuffle tiles like some Chinese granny."

"Yeah, yeah, we know." Okada rolls his eyes, lowing his voice to inform Mikoshiba, "Aniya's not allowed to play mahjong anymore."

Mikoshiba's eyes widen. "Why not?"

"Let's put it this way — the only thing he's worse at than _playing_ mahjong is _losing_ at mahjong." Okada smiles, thumbing a tile. "He once suckerpunched Sekikawa for calling kan on his discard."

Imaoka nods seriously. "Called him a cheating prick and flipped the table," he adds.

"Nah, that was when Yufune ron'd on his discard," Hiratsuka corrects. "Some cheap-ass hand, I think."

"Not that Aniya's was shaping up for anything," Okada concludes, leaning to take a look at Mikoshiba's starting tiles. "Okay, not great, but not bad either. Couple of pairs, I'd say you're in good shape for chi-toi — you know what that is, right? 'Kay, break up any triples, try to complete some more pairs, go with your gut."

"Go with my gut," Mikoshiba repeats, rubbing his leftmost chun nervously. "Got it. I think."

"Sure he should be ditching triples? No guts, no glory," Imaoka says, and pons on Hiratsuka's next discard.

"Big words." Okada emphasizes his words with a clean clack as he snaps down a 2pin into his discards. "Say it when you break your losing streak. You can't even see his hand anyway."

Hiratsuka calls riichi on his next turn and takes three more turns to call on Mikoshiba's discard. "Yakuhai," he announces proudly. "Lucky!"

"Ain't nothing lucky about a petty hand like that," Okada shoots back sourly, then checks Mikoshiba's tiles again. "All right, not bad at all. Looks like you might have a knack for this."

"He lost to Hiratsuka and you think he has a knack for it?" Aniya yells, laughing. "Are you lying or just stupid?"

"Least he knows how to put a hand together," Imaoka says under his breath, frowning as he sorts his new tiles.

"I think we're all a little stupid," Okada muses, "don't think I've ever claimed otherwise."

"We should set up a game with Shinjo and Toko-chan," Hiratsuka suggests suddenly, grinning. "Have them play Aninya. Bet that would keep his bitchfits in check."

Okada chuckles. "That might actually work, you know!"

"The hell!" Aniya shouts. "Leave the schoolgirl out of it — mahjong's a man's game!" To emphasize his point he sends his magazine flying; it hits the table, sending several tiles from Imaoka's hand clattering over, and lands with its pages open to reveal a splay-legged woman in very little clothing. Hiratsuka reaches for it immediately but Okada snatches it up and tosses it on the floor before Mikoshiba can turn an even more alarming shade of red.

"I thought you said mahjong was for Chinese grannies," Imaoka remarks, unperturbed, and gathers his tipped tiles. He tosses one into his discards with an irritated little 'tch'.

"It's just as well," Okada muses. "I wouldn't be all that surprised if Shinjo turned out to be some kind of mahjong genius, like a Fukumoto manga lead or something."

"The delinquent who descended into darkness," Imaoka agrees, nodding.

"Team manager on the path to tenhou?" Hiratsuka suggests. "Toko-chan can call on my discards _any_ day, if you know what I mean."

Okada rolls his eyes. "I totally forgot to check out your hand," he says to Mikoshiba, who's still looking a little pink. "How's it looking?"

Mikoshiba bites his lip uncertainly. "It started off not-so-good, but now it's kind of... not much better, actually."

"This is supposed to be a teaching game?" Imaoka remarks sceptically.

"Gimme a break." Okada draws a tile and adds, "Let's end this, get you some better tiles. Tsumo. Haitei yakuhai, 3 dora."

Hiratsuka frowns. "What was that about cheap hands?"

"Whatever, Yakuhai-kun. That's 5 han."

"I think I would kill for a cheap hand right about now," Imaoka grumbles.

"Bad attitudes lengthen losing streaks," Okada warns. "No manslaughter unless you can find a replacement who can play baseball _and_ mahjong. If we have to bring Aniya back in, I will make you suffer."

"Fair enough. Hey, remember last month when Hiratsuka kept calling riichi on closed waits in furiten?" Imaoka asks, smiling slightly. "At least once a game for like two weeks?"

"What about it?" Hiratsuka grunts, frowning pointedly at his new tiles.

"Oh, nothing," Imaoka dismisses quickly, "just thought mentioning it might make me feel a bit better about my damn losing streak."

"Did it work?" Mikoshiba asks, taking his time in sorting his hand before neatly discarding his first tile.

"Like a charm," Imaoka nods and snatches Okada's discard almost before it's left his hand. "Pon. It's good to remember there's always someone worse than you."

Falling silent quickly, everyone turns in unison to glance in Aniya's direction. Back still to them, he snaps, "Real subtle, douchebags."

Resuming glaring at his tiles, Hiratsuka wonders aloud, "Think Kawato's any good at mahjong?"

"No way in hell," Okada replies decisively, prompting a chuckle from Imaoka. "But don't get any ideas — do you really think he'd go betting money?"

"Ugh, too true."

"Okay, what the hell ever, this hand is garbage," Okada announces suddenly, tossing a 3pin into his discards with a little frown of resignation. "You getting the hang of it?" he asks Mikoshiba. "What's your hand look like?"

"Not sure," Mikoshiba admits with a sheepish smile. "I got some triples, and they're all the same suit... Looks funny though, the tiles are all the same colour."

"All the same— wait a minute, sounds like you're shaping up for—" Leaning over, Okada peeks at Mikoshiba's tiles. He closes his eyes for a moment as if in disbelief and then checks them again. "No way."

"It ain't," Imaoka mutters, half disbelieving.

"Sure is," Okada confirms. "Good timing — one more turn and you'd end up breaking up this nice hand, huh? Now say 'tsumo'."

Mikoshiba obeys, tipping his tiles for all to see.

"Ryu-ii-sou," Hirotsuka observes, jaw dropping.

Mikoshiba stares at the others, then examines his tiles closely. "Ryu-ii-sou," he repeats. "That's good?"

"That is _very_ good," Okada agrees, looking slightly embarrassed when his eyes flick back to his own tiles. "That's yakuman, kid."

"That means you just kicked their asses, stupid," Aniya shouts helpfully over his shoulder.

"Maybe Aniya should come take a look," Hiratsuka suggests, loud enough to ensure Aniya can hear him. "Not like he'll ever get to see it in his own hand."

"I don't have time to get good at mahjong, I'm too busy scoring with chicks and being awesome at baseball," Aniya calls back. "I guess you'd be zero for three, huh?"

Mikoshiba snatches the 1pin from Hiratsuka's hand before he can send it flying.

"Thanks, those things are a pain in the ass to find when they go missing, "Okada says, mixing his tiles in with his discards. "So, I think it's time to start you on lesson two: cheating your ass off."


	2. Double or Nothing

**Authorly preamble or something:** I never expected to find myself writing a second chapter of this, but once I got the idea into my head I couldn't help but give it a shot. Since I keep mentioning 'Fukumoto manga', I should probably clarify: Fukumoto Nobuyuki writes manga about gambling, several of which are about mahjong (and all of which are pretty great!).

* * *

**Double or Nothing**

"It's a shame Mikoshiba shot us down," Imaoka comments with a glance to his left as he settles into his seat, making sure Akaboshi has enough room at their side of the table.

"As long as we have a fourth it doesn't make that much of a difference," Okada mutters, attention wholly on arranging the tiles in their correct places.

"I don't get it, is Mikoshiba-senpai really good at mahjong or something?" Hamanaka asks, carefully straightening several stacked tiles that have shifted out of place.

"He means because everyone hates playing against me and Mikoshiba's all sunshine and rainbows," Aniya spits, giving the leg of his chair a solid kick.

"Well, you _are _the only one here who's kicked over the table in the middle of a match," Imaoka mutters with a shrug.

"Isn't it a little early to get your panties in a bunch? We haven't even started playing, chill out," Okada advises, voice taking on a slightly threatening tone. "Try to keep from flipping your shit, okay? Mikoshiba found us these nice, practically new tiles, and if you start chucking them or god forbid _lose one _I will piss on your grave after he murders you."

"Don't be an asshole," Aniya snaps, "give me _some _credit. I'm not Hamanaka, you know."

Hamanaka looks up quickly as if expecting a punchline or retraction, but when he realizes none is forthcoming he ducks his head like a scolded puppy.

"Hey, Akaboshi," Imaoka says, "you _did_ say you've played mahjong before, right?"

"Kind of, my grandpa taught me to play as a kid. I'll probably remember most of it quick." Akaboshi doesn't sound especially excited, possibly because he's agreed to join the table primarily to get Hiratsuka to stop badgering him about 'mahjong as a team building exercise'. He glances over the tiles lined up before himself and Imaoka with a vacant look.

"What about you?" Okada nudges Hamanaka with his elbow as he shifts their shared tiles to make sure neither will have trouble seeing.

"I tried playing a bit online," Hamanaka admits, fidgeting excitedly. "Wasn't very good, not sure I really get it that well, but I tried to remember as many yaku as I could."

"Okay, good enough," Okada concludes. "It's not like you're playing alone anyway, so don't panic or anything."

"'Sides, if Aniya and Hiracchi can figure it out, how hard can it be?" Imaoka offers, deadpan.

"How'd you like a discard upside the head, huh?" Hiratsuka threatens, snapping his tile down into place with a pointed look.

"So what do you think?" Okada rotates a 7man tile patiently. "If you were playing online, what would you do with a hand like this?"

Hamanaka stares hard at the tiles, eyes somewhat more intense than the occasion would seem to call for. "Yakuhai?" he suggests finally.

"If you wanted to push it, it wouldn't be too bad to go for hon-itsu if you want to clear out the pinzu and go for a one-suit deal," Okada says, "but yakuhai looks good too. Doesn't hurt to play it safe this early; may as well, huh?"

"Yakuhai's for pussies," Aniya snaps, straining to get a look at Okada and Hamanaka's tiles. "What kind of bullshit are you teaching him?"

"Yakuhai is a perfectly legitimate yaku!" Hiratsuka roars, almost defensively, snapping down his discarded 3pin firmly enough to unsettle the order of adjacent tiles.

Akaboshi makes an indistinct grumbling noise, looking at each of them in turn. "Do you mind? I'm trying to concentrate."

"Not that tile, discard the one next to it," Imaoka instructs, smiling slightly. "Concentrate harder." He looks across the table at Hamanaka and shrugs. "You do what you can with the tiles you have."

"Well you can do it next round," Aniya scoffs, tipping his hand. "Ron, tan-yao."

Okada rolls his eyes. "Talk shit about a one han hand, ron on a one han hand."

"Furi-ten, more like it," Imaoka corrects, nonplussed, and the others lean in for a better look at Aniya's discards to confirm. "You can't call on a 2man, you discarded one like thirty seconds ago."

Hamanaka leans toward Okada and whispers, "Aniya-senpai really does suck at mahjong, you weren't kidding."

"Hey dumbass, I can hear you," Aniya snaps, leg swinging out to kick the leg of Hamanaka's chair as if in warning. "I may suck at mahjong but I can still kick your ass."

"So he admits he sucks at mahjong..." Hiratsuka muses, sounding genuinely pleased.

"So what do we do now?" Akaboshi asks, eyeing Aniya's revealed tiles opportunistically. "Keep going, or...?"

"I'm all for new tiles," Okada says, and Hamanaka nods.

"Seconded," Hiratsuka agrees.

"Motion passed," Imaoka concludes, and Akaboshi promptly tips their tiles, the others quickly following suit.

"Don't I get a say?" Aniya grumbles.

"You forfeit it when you tried to ron in furi-ten," Imaoka retorts, shuffling the tiles. "That and your points. House rules, you know the drill. Cough 'em up."

As Aniya hands over several point counters, swearing under his breath, Okada explains, "We instated a point penalty for stupid furi-ten situations to help break Hiratsuka's riichi-closed-wait-furi-ten bad habit."

Hamanaka hesitates long enough to work out the string of unfamiliar terms and then leans forward to get a better look at Hiratsuka. "How did that work out for you, Senpai?"

Hiratsuka glowers. "Shut up and sort your tiles, kid."

"Already done," Okada says, jabbing Hamanaka lightly with his elbow when he looks reproachful. "Come on, put your game face on."

Hamanaka narrows his eyes, scrutinizing the tiles carefully. "Four pairs... so, chi-toi?" he suggests, sounding a bit more confident than the last time.

"We could get more points for turning them into triples," Okada points out, "even if it's an open hand."

"You think anyone would discard the dora, though?" Hamanaka asks sceptically, neatly snapping a 4sou into place in his discards.

"Sure, we can play into that," Imaoka offers, watching Hiratsuka's discard before tossing out an 8pin of his own and glancing at Akaboshi. "You don't mind, right?"

Akaboshi shrugs. "Not doing us any good."

"Pon!" Hamanaka grabs the tile and slides it to the side with the two others, looking a bit more excited than necessary. "Thanks, Senpai."

Okada gives him another jab. "Game face, seriously."

Hamanaka scowls obediently.

Aniya scoffs. "_Asking _for discards? Am I the only one taking this game seriously?"

"Calm your tits, it's just a teaching game," Hiratsuka drawls, thumping his fist on the table and knocking over several of his own tiles. "Shit, nobody saw that, okay?"

"Aniya's just mad we're finally letting him play again but we're not taking it seriously enough for him to pretend he's a protagonist from a Fukumoto manga," Imaoka comments, frowning at Aniya. "Stop using us to try to live out your fantasies, it's grossing me out."

"Fuck you all," Aniya grunts, snatching up Hiratsuka's next discard. "Ron, yakuhai, go to hell."

"Nope, that's furi-ten again, dumbass," Okada replies as soon as he's had time to survey the discards. "You maybe want to get your shit together so we can play a decent game?"

"Stop sucking at mahjong!" Hiratsuka yells.

"Stop sucking at baseball!" Aniya yells back.

Hiratsuka flounders briefly before finally managing a scandalized gasp, and Imaoka presses his fingertips to his eyelids. "Why does it always come back to that...?"

Hamanaka frowns. "We have three dora and now we can't use them because Aniya-senpai can't check his discards before calling?"

Imaoka flicks a tile over. "And we're in tenpai."

"Yeah, yeah, take the damn point counters and quit your whining," Aniya gripes.

"At this rate Aniya-senpai's going to run out of points before anyone has enough time to put together a proper hand," Akaboshi mutters, sounding a bit put-out in spite of himself.

"Is this going to end with a three-way tie?" Hamanaka asks suddenly. "Because that would be totally lame and also kind of disappointing."

"It's not going to be a three-way tie!" Aniya objects promptly, mounting frustration edging into his voice.

"Oh, so you're going to step up your game?" Imaoka remarks dryly, exhaling hard enough to ruffle his bangs. "I look forward to it."

"All right, let's get this going," Okada interrupts before the bickering can continue, glancing over his tiles. "Those dragon tiles look nice, think we could do something with them?"

"Leave it to me!" Hamanaka exclaims and sets his jaw without being told.

"You know," says Imaoka, tone almost absentminded as he watches the discards carefully, "it's kind of surprising no one's gotten punched and the table's still upright."

"Aniya's setting a record for good behavior," Okada agrees, "but don't get too excited, the game's not over yet." He watches Hamanaka draw and discard a 4man without hesitation and nods his approval before returning his attention to Aniya's discards, watching them closely.

"Toko-chan's changed you, man." Hiratsuka looks at Aniya across the table, shaking his head, then smirks. "Hope she keeps at it."

"Can everyone just shut the fuck up for a minute?" Aniya demands, not looking up from his tiles. "There, riichi."

Okada rubs his forehead thoughtfully. "Closed wait?" he asks after brief consideration.

Aniya surveys his tiles quickly. "Well. Yeah."

"Okay, so do me a favour. Look at your discards, tell me if you see the tile you're waiting on."

Aniya snorts sceptically but looks anyway. "Well _fuck_."

"All right," Imaoka says, tenting his fingers and beginning to look a bit short on patience, "here's what's going to happen. We are going to keep playing. Aniya is in furi-ten and will not try to ron or tsumo. Somebody's going to throw together some kind of yaku and this is going to turn into a real game."

Hiratsuka casts a wary look to his left. "Sounds good," he says, pausing a moment before selecting his discard. "Let's go with that."

"Didn't sound like a suggestion," Akaboshi mutters, showing a tile to Imaoka for approval before discarding it.

Aniya grumbles indistinctly, everyone watching closely as he draws a tile, scowls at it, and adds it to his discards. "Don't give me that look, I'm not going to try to tsumo or anything."

"You say that, but..." Hamanaka draws a tile and grins. "Oh, cool. Tsumo." He tips his tiles, practically glowing with excitement. "Dai-san-gen."

Okada frowns, leaning over the table to squint at the tiles. "How did you put together yakuman that fast without me noticing?" he demands, glancing quickly about the table and settling back, looking somewhat mollified. "I guess I was keeping a closer eye on Aniya's tiles, but what the _hell_, I thought you said you weren't that good!"

Hamanaka fidgets with a tile, grinning nervously. "Well there's a lot of yaku to remember, but I thought at least memorizing the yakuman hands would be a good start so I'd know them when I see them, plus a couple cheaper yaku — yakuhai and whatever, you know."

"I can't tell if that makes perfect sense or no sense at all," Imaoka sighs, glancing to one side and promptly double-taking, eyes widening. "Aniya, what are you‐"

"Yo what the _fuck_—!" Hiratsuka yelps, hopping back with enough speed and force to knock his chair over just in time to get clear as Aniya upends the cheap folding table, tiles and all.

"_Fuck_ this game!" Aniya yells, giving the table an extra kick before he starts to gather his things with an eye on the door.

It takes everyone a moment to collect themselves, and nobody looks pleased with the mess once they do. Okada is first to move, picking up his own overturned chair and slamming it down with enough force to scatter the tiles in its way. "I said 'don't flip your shit' and you said 'yeah, yeah, whatever'." He gathers a handful of tiles, looks for somewhere to set them, and lets his hand drop to his side in frustration, eyes narrowing. "You know if they're chipped I'm going to forcefeed you them, yeah?"

"Well anyway." Imaoka pulls the table back upright with Akaboshi's help and grunts, kicking one collapsed leg until it snaps back into place. "Congratulations on your dai-san-gen." He reaches over the table to shake hands with Hamanaka, who is looking both bewildered and kind of jumpy. "But I think it might be good for everyone if you make a point of memorizing some cheaper hands."


End file.
